Hall China Collecting

Hall china collecting, an affordable way to collect a little piece of America's past.

The Hall China company was established in 1903 in East Liverpool, Ohio. It is still operating more successfully than ever today. Their factory is open to tours where lovers of this particular chunky brand of collectibes can see the items in all of their stages of development.

Every October collectors and those interested gather in Ohio for the big Haul. There is a wonderful website--The Hall Collectors Site--that can provide the information for this gathering. At the same site, one can purchase a Hall Calendar full of colored photos of Hallware, and get educated about collecting.

Vintage Hallware is from the early part of the last century. Although some of the old pieces are being reproduced, the older pieces are clearly marked on the bottom with the word Hall in a circle. Several experts have written books on the subject. If you're thinking of seriously investing, the books would be a good idea.

Many online dealers in artifacts, hold some interesting sales of the Hall products. What's more, Hallware is still very affordable due to the variety and quantity of the pieces. A refrigerator dish with a lid--the forerunner of Tupperware--usually goes for around $25.00, and so do many of the wonderfully, art-deco shaped beverage pitchers, ash-trays, bowls and custard cups, and many other delightful items.

The original Hallware represents an era baby-boomers can relate to. There's a good chance their mothers and grandmothers had several pieces of Hall that they used in the kitchen, as the china was often given via promotions by companies like Westinghouse, General Electric, Hotpoint, Lipton, Jewel Tea, and many more.

If you're looking for the perfect gift for the relative who has everything, or just wanting to get a few pieces for yourself, Hallware is a fun way to become a collector. Some people like to collect a certain color, with red being the most popular, and one of the most valuable. There is also lavendar, yellow, blue, green, gray, cream, black, maroon, pink and more, plus a variety of patterns like the famed Red Poppy china, or the Rose Parade pattern.

If it's an unusually shaped vintage teapot you're after, Hall started to manufacture them in the 1920's, adding new shapes and colors to their collection until 1948. That made them the largest manufacturing of teapots in the world, and certainly one of the most innovative. A red Hall, football shaped teapot is valued at four-hundred dollars. There are pots shaped like Aladdin's lamp, another like a basketball. There are teapots with hooked lids and double spouts. The unique, fun designs are what makes collecting Hallware such an adventure.